West Virginia: I'll be damned. ACA Medicaid expansion has basically hit 100% of total eligible!!

According to this article, WV's uninsured rate in 2013 stood at rougly 255K, of which 150K were eligible for the ACA's Medicaid expansion provision. Apparently they hit 145K as of 2 weeks ago...or 97% of the total eligible.

Now, the way the article words it, it's conceivable that the 145K figure could include some renewals and/or "woodworkers", which would mean that the actual percent of newly eligible WV residents is somewhat lower.

However, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates, as of last fall WV actually had around 267K uninsured, of which only 143K were eligible for Medicaid expansion. Furthermore, as of mid-July, the number of Medicaid enrollees specifically designated as "due to ACA expansion" already stood at 132,556, which means that we're talking about some number between 132K - 145K...out of some other number between 143K - 150K.

In other words, West Virginia has now enrolled a minimum of 88% of those eligible for Medicaid expansion...up to a maximum of 101%!!

Obviously the numbers are a bit fuzzy at both ends, but the bottom line is that WV has effectively dried up their well of eligible expansion candidates...in less than 9 months time.

The number of uninsured residents in the state dropped 3.5 percent last year, from 264,000 in 2012 to 255,000. ACA enrollment began in October 2013 and the federal law’s enrollment deadline was extended into mid-April of this year, so those newly insured through the ACA marketplace were not factored into the 2013 data.

More than 145,000 West Virginians have been enrolled in Medicaid between Oct. 1 of last year and mid-September, according to the state Department of Health and Human Resources.

“When he decided to expand Medicaid last year, Governor Tomblin took a giant step in improving the health of over 150,000 West Virginians,” said Ted Boettner, executive director with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. “In a state that ranks low on many health factors like obesity and diabetes, efforts to undo this progress will jeopardize not only the health of working families and their children, but the state’s economy.”